Country by-Ways

by Sarah Orne Jewett

Excerpt

The head of tide-water on the river there is a dam, and above it is a large mill-pond, where most of the people who row and sail keep their boats all summer long. I like, perhaps once a year; to cruise around the shores Of this pretty sheet of water; but I am always conscious of the dam above it and the dam below it, and of being con fined between certain limits. I rarely go beyond a certain point on the lower or tide river, as people call it, but I always have the feeling that I can go to Eu rope, if I like, or anywhere on the high seas; and when I unfasten the boat there is no dam or harbor bar, or any barrier whatever between this and all for eign ports. Far up among the hills the ocean comes, and its tide ebbs and ﬂows. When the tide goes out, the narrow reaches of the river become rapids, where a rushing stream fights.